Welcome to the Piledome - Pile of Shame September 2021

ChuckD and Flavor Flav might come after me for this pile title. Games are coming out and you still can't get a new console, so go play the old stuff!

Also, go listen to Fear of a Black Planet, it's a classic.

For those new to the Pile of Shame, we have monthly threads until October and that thread goes for the rest of the year. It used to be due to the influx of new games, a lot of folks would be drawn to the new games and the pile would to a backseat. As release schedules have changed over the last 14(!) years, it's a way for me to take a bit of a break.

Some housekeeping notes.

If you're interested, trueheart78, has the 12 month 2021 pile plan thread over here.

A quick reminder, in order to be considered "Pile of Shame" the game needs to be at least three months old. Otherwise, it's just a new game you haven't gotten to playing yet.

Also, if you are curious about some of the previous threads, Picks of the Pile, etc... Please go here and check out the spreadsheet I setup.

Let's get on to the games!

This month's Pick of the Pile is

Jet Set Radio Future


IMAGE(https://cdn.wallpapersafari.com/48/35/9d85Oe.jpg)
"Jet Set Radio Future (Or "JSRF") is the sequel to Jet Set Radio (also known as Jet Grind Radio in America), and a sort of re-imagining of that game. It features the same basic gameplay dynamics and many characters similar to those in Jet Set Radio, but with updated graphics, a new soundtrack, and an altered plot." (Fandom.com)

In futuristic Tokyo, referred to in the game as "Tokyo-to", a group of teenage skaters called the GG's vie for control of Tokyo-to against rival groups. The Rokkaku Group, a megacorporation, has taken over the much of the city and their leader is the new mayor of Tokyo-to. The group is oppressing the people, taking away freedom of speech and expression, and is forcing other gang members to give up their territory using the corrupt police force of Tokyo-to." (Wikipedia)

Multi-Platform
Burly Men at Sea - hineycut1
Cthulhu Saves the World - LastSurprise
Final Fantasy VII Remake - Malkroth
Forgotton Anne - Eleima
God of War III - AUs_TBirD
Half-Minute Hero - LastSurprise
Heaven’s Vault - Eleima
The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure - bobbywatson
Monster Hunter Stories - brokenclavicle
Red Dead Redemption 2 - iaintgotnopants
The Sexy Brutale - Eleima
Spider-Man - honeycut1
Super Mario 3D World - iaintgotnopants
Trails in the Sky SC - JohnKillo
Trine 4 - Stele
Va-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action - benign1, Eleima
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana - LastSurprise

PC
Half-Life: Alyx - Forlorn Hope
King's Bounty: The Legend - LastSurprise
Tyranny - brokenclavicle

Nintendo Switch
Fire Emblem Three Houses - LastSurprise
Ring Fit Adventure - Forlorn Hope
Super Mario Odyssey - benign1

Xbox
Jet Set Radio Future - bobbywatson

I beat it a few weeks ago, and yet I can't stop playing Lego City Undercover. I'm getting close to 100% completion though, so it should soon be time to get back to the two games I want to declare this month:

  • The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure (multi)
  • Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox)

I thought I was going to be able to finish Red Dead Redemption 2 but then Psychonauts 2 came out and ate 30 hours of my weekend. So, I'm pretty sure I'll finish Red Dead this week. I'm just aiming to finish the story at this point. Too many of the side quests just come down to blindly stumbling across an item in the huge map. The game is incredible but so much of the side stuff is just tedious.

I actually made progress on Super Mario 3D World but I'm still something like four worlds from the end. I'm probably close to giving up on 100%-ing each level before moving on.

I'm not sure what I'm going to play after Red Dead but it'll probably be short with Deathloop coming out in two weeks.

Going to attempt to beat Half Life: Alyx (Steam) and Ring Fit Adventure (Switch) for the umpteenth time. Only have 7 more levels left in the latter so totally doable. Half Life was hard last month since I was usually too physically exhausted by the time I could play it so strapping on a heavy vr headset didn't sound appealing. With any luck, I'll have the energy this month.

I'll go ahead and declare Va-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action (Multi) and Super Mario Odyssey (Switch) (how have I still not gotten back to finishing that??) for this month.

Monster Hunter Stories (Multi)
Tyranny (PC)

I'd be lucky if I manage to finish anything else, if I even finish these two, at that.

Going to Chicago for a few days for Riot Fest (first music festival I'm going to in over a year since this whole state of the world thing came to happen. No complaints, just stating facts hehehe.

Trine 4 is still happening. Seems like there's always another level but eventually I'll finish... maybe.

Right. Let's do this. I'm declaring Forgotton Anne (Multi), Heaven’s Vault (Multi), The Sexy Brutale (Multi) and VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action (Multi).
Wish me luck.

Going to put Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4) up on the list again. After Monster Hunter Stories ate up more of August than I thought it would I should be able to get through it this time.

I haven't figured out what I'm going to commit to finishing this month yet, so your guess is as good as mine as to what it'll be.

I did see the credits roll in last month's God of War III (PS3/multi) shortly before midnight on the 1st, so that's my one so far. I thought I was done with all the classic God of Wars (aka pre-Dad of War) now, but apparently there is another one - GoW: Ascension.

GoW III is pretty much the same as the previous entries, just utilizing the power boost the PS3 provided in contrast to the PS2 and PSP titles. Graphics and spectacle significantly ramped up. More boss battles as far as I can tell, and more spectacular as well. The final encounter actually took close to an hour due to its various phases. That was impressive.
It all feels really good with the exception of a few sections where I kept confusing the controls (mostly the grapple-a-harpie sections), and all weapons are fun to use in their own way. Except the boots of Hermes; never got the hang of those in combat.

My main...and pretty much only real complaint is that large sections of the game are super-dark in terms of luminance. I get that we are in the underworld or that the world is ending, but it was just really hard to see at times. I'm not referring to the Head of H.... navigation sections - those were okay.

If you want more classic God of War action, GoW III has got you covered. Those that never liked that style of gameplay won't change their minds due to this iteration.

Anticipating a new JRPG Club game in October, as well as a couple of day 1 purchases in October and November (Metroid Dread and Shin Megami Tensei V), I'm going to declare September the month of the pile! I'd like to clear the following games:

  • Fire Emblem Three Houses - I'm resuming a saved game in Chapter 14, otherwise this would be a tall order
  • Cthulhu Saves the World
  • Half-Minute Hero
  • King's Bounty: The Legend - a white whale of a game; I probably won't clear both this and Fire Emblem

Edit: SMT V, not SMT IV.

Trails in the Sky SC. This year… will be my year to finish you

Just wrapped Forgotton Anne (Multi), so you can cross that off the list. Feels good to have actual Pile Progress after lowing two months to post-op! And it was a good game.

A few days before Psychonauts 2 came out on August 24th, I thought I was almost done with Red Dead Redemption 2. I think I was just shy of 50 hours. I just finished at 78.5 hours. This game just kept dragging on and on.

The main chuck of the game is incredibly good. Just wandering around the world on your horse is super satisfying. The epilogue honestly kind of ruined the game. I realize that they needed to set up the story for RDR1 but they took most of the things that were annoying in the game and put them into a mostly on-rails string of quests. Side note: if you make a game that has an epilogue part 2, f*ck you get an editor.

I wish this game was made by somebody other than Rockstar. Their games always have terrible, sluggish and, at times, nonsensical controls. They over-animate every action so if something isn't just right it makes everything janky as hell.

I have a few pile games that I want to play for October. Depending on how long it takes me to finish Deathloop, I may start playing them at the end of this month but I'm not ready to declare anything yet.

Trine 4 is down!

I don't know how bad trine 3 was because I skipped it. But this was just as fun as I remember trine 1 and 2 being. The combat is still a bit rough. The game drug on for about 3-4 levels too long. But overall it was a good time.

I enjoyed the variety of ways to get through puzzles. Between the floating rope, 3 boxes, frozen arrows, etc there were a ton of options to deal with obstacles.

I have nothing else declared yet. I basically abandoned FFX a few months back. I had that chance to finish the story but tried to do a bunch of side quests and burned out like I always do. Maybe I could just jump back in and beat it?

Or maybe I'll finish up Mario 3D World, but that was supposed to be a co-op project with the wife.

And I also fell off Radiant Historia a couple months ago. It was really great, I just got caught up in a Switch game and stopped playing the 3DS.

Or maybe I'll start one of the dozen unplayed Switch games I have. Really need to clear some room for Metroid Dread in October.

TBD.

Stele wrote:

I don't know how bad trine 3 was because I skipped it.

Keep it that way. Just terrible.

After struggling with the final boss, The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure is done! It was great, but I need a break from Trails games for some time...

You're just in time to get into some more Falcom goodness...

LastSurprise wrote:

You're just in time to get into some more Falcom goodness...

I installed it earlier this week, and it's ready to go!

I'm also working to wrap up Burly Men at Sea for the Vita/PS4. Fun little game.

Well, after starting Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, there's no way I'll be finishing anything this month. And, I'm having so much fun that I'm not sorry.

I saw the credits roll for Ring Fit Adventure. There seems to be robust post game content but I think I'll take a break from it before going back. That final level definitely tested me but I somehow powered through it. It probably didn't help that my exercise schedule has been erratic. Still, I'll take some exercise over the none that I was getting before this game. Baby steps Haven't made any progress in Half Life: Alyx so I doubt I'll be finishing it this month.

FFVII Remake is longer than I thought and other events in my life took longer than expected so I will not be competing it this month. With Ys VIII starting for the JRPG club, it will go on the back burner until that one is complete.

Well, I've managed to beat some games this month, just mostly not the games I have been declaring for months, now. That has changed today, as I finally managed to get through Tyranny. I really enjoyed the game, so my taking months and months to get through my 39 hours of gameplay had nothing to do with the games quality, but rather my meandering approach to scheduling play sessions. And when I did play, I really dove into the lore and read and re-read and overthought my every decision while trying to roleplay accurately. This last is something that I don't always do with RPG's in general, so I think is speaks to how much it drew me in. Part of the reason why I would delay play sessions was precisely because I liked to have at least 2+ hours to focus and devote to the game, and that amount of time disposal along with having the mental and physical energy to really pay attention, made it take that much longer to get through.

In any case. Loved the experience. Could be a game of the year contender for me. Have to mull that over.

I'm fairly certain I'll carry over my other pick to the end of the year thread.

I finished Heaven's Vault tonight, hooray!